O Delicate Furnacecraft

One of the most satisfying mini-revelations I've had recently is that I really, really like Louis Tiffany's glasswork. I've tuned into this first from the exhibit at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh (picture from their website) over Thanksgiving, and then last Friday another exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, which I wandered through with Dan, who was on an east coast visit.

I've never paid Tiffany glasswork much heed till now, but all of a sudden it's incredible, every vase and translucent panel. I love that it's generous at heart and so intentionally beautiful, and how it wears its modernity so frankly. Even a small bit of functional demand ("be a window!") seems to ground a design and keep it from seeming overly mannered.

Of course it's the colors and textures, more than anything else. That all art should let the light through like that . . .